1974 Europe

I won this 800 meter race in Finland. Pre asked me to put white tape over AAU.

Tensions roiled track and field during the 1970s -- sports officials making money on the backs of amateurs, athletes forbidden from capitalizing on their skill.

Prefontaine challenged the system, starting with the US governing body, the AAU.

Pre did OK financially when he was in school. But things got tough after his scholarship ended upon graduation.

In 1974, the AAU prohibited track athletes from competing internationally during certain dates of the summer in an effort to force US athletes to compete in its own meets, the AAU championships and the meet against the USSR.

The AAU wanted the biggest American stars all to itself.

Not only did Pre plan to skip the AAU championships, he told the world he was skipping them.

"I'm going to compete all through their moratorium and if they want to take me to court, that's fine with me," Prefontaine said in an issue of Track and Field News.

"I can take them for all they're worth. What does it prove running the AAU meet?

The AAU doesn't care about the athletes; why should I care about them?"

Pre was offered $200,000 to turn pro but said no. Had he taken the money, he would have lost his amateur status and his eligibility to compete in the 1976 Olympics.

Yet the AAU offered no help with his costs of training, competition and living.

He was internationally famous -- a reputation he solidified in college -- but frustrated, all but forced to take race money under the table.

Pre encouraged many of us to join him in Europe for the summer, assuring that we could show up, enter meets just as he had done the year before, and get paid.

I was intrigued by the idea of extending my junior 800-meter season and having a European summer adventure.

I, along with seven or eight others, took Pre up on the offer. I spent nearly two months hopping through Norway, Sweden and Finland, negotiating payment with meet directors, running 16 races,and pocketing the money.

After expenses, I made $133. Then I ran for Oregon my senior year.

I broke the rules, both of the NCAA and the AAU, which I’ve never regretted. I had reasons to do it that I think are all the more relevant today.

I returned to the U.S. on Aug. 7, exhilarated from my results, but also from joining Pre in his fight.

Even though we were technically wrong, I believed that we did the right thing.